Crowdfire Founders To Launch Cryptocurrency Exchange

The exchange will also offer WRX, a brand new coin which will be an integral part of the trading platform in the future

04 February 2018
94

Nischal Shetty, co-founder of Crowdfire, a social media management app for Twitter and Instagram, has announced plans to launch a new Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange called WazirX. The platform will be launched in March.

We intend to be transparent about how we build the product, why something’s not working right, what coins to list, what features to build next etc. We want to be vocal about everything we do and involve our community to help us decide the way forward. It’s time to change all that and bring in mass adoption of crypto in India!

Nischal Shetty

Co-founder, Crowdfire

The exchange will also offer WRX, a brand new coin which will be an integral part of the trading platform in the future.

In order to award early adopters, about 15% of the total supply of WRX Coins is being offered free, with a free giveaway target of 150 Mn WRX coins. The post stated, “When you pre-signup to WazirX, you’ll get 500 WRX coins. You will also have your own way of spreading the news further and making your family and friends part of the give away through the referral program.”

He added that as far as pricing is concerned, WazirX is currently at the free giveaway stage and hence there’s no way to price it at the moment.

However, if you look at how the market prices a coin, it’s all about the product, tech, team, and a number of people holding it. Since we’re distributing WRX to early adopters, we expect thousands of WRX holders. As a team, we’ve built Crowdfire and scaled it to 19 Mn users now. I expect a good price for WRX when we list. We’ll disclose more details about pricing as we get closer to our free giveaway target of 150 Million WRX coins.

Nischal Shetty

Co-founder, Crowdfire

The news comes on the same day the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting the Union Budget 2018, stated that although the Indian government favors blockchain, it will do every bit to stop Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies trading in India from financing illegitimate activities.

German Financial Regulator Clarifies Stance on ICOs

The Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin) has clarified its position on ICOs

22 February 2018
53

German financial regulator admitted it was receiving many inquiries about the status of tokens and cryptocurrencies. According to an advisory letter, BaFin provides some basic definitions of ICOs and related terms. It is important because the results of a new survey showed that more than two-thirds of Germans know about bitcoin.

In this letter, BaFin educates the public and explains how tokens are typically generated, how blockchain works and that ICOs are used to raise funds for startup projects. The note states that for regulatory purposes, ICOs, tokens, coins, and cryptocurrencies are subject to the existing provisions in the field of securities supervision and other relevant national and EU laws.

The authority advises participants in ICOs to check and follow rules applicable to regulated financial instruments, such as securities. If businesses or individuals have any doubts about regulations, they should approach BaFin.

According to BaFin, companies should fulfill any obligations under the Banking Act and the Capital Investment Code, the Insurance Supervision Act and the Payment Services Supervision Act. The transactions may be prohibited if relevant regulatory requirements are not met.

The authority also states that legal classification of tokens requires precise examination. It will determine their status on a case-by-case basis after studying their features. The token should be transferable and tradable on cryptocurrency trading platforms in order to be classified as a security.